No longer needing to expend energy to recover elemental power, Jean's overall spirit had improved significantly.
This place was no longer safe to stay. Jean quietly climbed out the window, leaving the inn and entering the forest.
Although one might encounter other demons in the forest at night, those nocturnal Danger Beasts were also quite difficult to deal with.
However, there were only a few hours left until dawn. As long as she hid well or stalled for time, she just needed to wait for daybreak.
Just as Jean's mind was full of thoughts about returning to the Swordsmith Village to give Akame a good hug and dote on the loli, a deep voice suddenly rang out from behind.
"Is she the Demon Slayer who killed the clown?"
"It's her, it's her! Please, let me go."
Jean immediately turned around, gripping the hilt of her blade and preparing herself.
A burly man in golden armor stood there, holding the blood-covered innkeeper she had just seen.
Upon seeing Jean's appearance and the nichirin blade she held, he tightened his grip, and the innkeeper instantly turned into a spray of blood.
"To possess such strength and presence at such a young age is indeed impressive. However, by my Master's command, I have come to take your head."
"Oh? How could a low-tier swordsman like me, in the middle of nowhere, catch the eye of Kibutsuji Muzan?"
"Hmm? Since you can speak my Master's name and seem to recognize me, you are clearly no nameless nobody from a remote region."
"After all, you are the Empire's strongest, the Guardian of the Empire, Great General Budo. Is there any warrior in the Empire who doesn't admire you?" Jean emphasized the word "Empire" each time.
"There is no need for sarcasm. As a demon now, serving the Demon King Kibutsuji Muzan is only natural. Now, ominous person of the prophecy, give up your head!"
He then raised his gauntlets, gathering bursts of lightning.
Seeing the opponent about to make a move, Jean sighed inwardly. The moment she saw him, she had initiated the return channeling bar, while trying to stall for as much time as possible.
Unfortunately, it seemed she wouldn't be able to wait out those last few dozen seconds. As expected, trying to "recall" right in front of a hero's face was unlikely to succeed; even if the recall bar couldn't be interrupted like in League of Legends, the sheer damage output would be enough to kill her instantly.
In that case, she would risk it one more time. She remained in place to let the bar continue, while the wind element wrapped around the nichirin blade in her hand blew forward, forming a small tornado.
Although she wanted to imitate Yasuo's Steel Tempest knock-up effect, the final result was more like Strike Air: Hammer of the King of the Wind—a mid-range attack skill.
Just as expected, when the whirlwind hit Budo's armor, the lightning element was instantly drawn into the gale, turning it into a lightning-infused whirlwind. If this lightning could cause obstruction or even paralysis, it would surely be enough to stall until the bar finished.
However, as the lightning whirlwind touched Budo's body, it all flowed along the armor, actually making the electric glow on the armor even more intense.
If there were a damage display, the screen would definitely be full of "Immune" right now.
Then, a bolt of lightning erupted from Budo's gauntlets, striking toward Jean's position.
The moment the lightning whirlwind proved ineffective, Jean was ready to move. Observing Budo's micro-movements, she successfully began moving just an instant before the lightning fired, dodging the shot, and immediately ran toward the depths of the forest without looking back.
"This is a damn Electro Slime, isn't it?" she couldn't help but curse.
She thought only Master Ke would be screwed over by Electro Slimes; she didn't expect to have such a day herself. Although the wind element can hit Electro Slimes normally in the game, in reality, a Swirl reaction occurred before touching the main body, and the damage was then converted to Electro and negated.
Thinking about it, if it were truly in the world of Genshin Impact, Slimes would indeed count as top-tier monsters.
As for running in for close combat, Jean had no such intention. That armor had a paralysis effect, which was a hard counter to melee. In the original work, Leone and Tatsumi were completely outclassed in close combat; in the end, it was the long-range Mine who sacrificed herself to use her ultimate to achieve a one-for-one trade.
On Jean's escape route, lightning bolts continued to fire over. Fortunately, there were many trees to block the line of fire and reduce the power of the lightning.
Grass-type resists Electric-type is common sense.JPG
Through the exploration effect of the wind element, she could navigate the dark forest with ease without crashing into trees.
However, as she went deeper into the forest, the ground became uneven, with tangled roots and approaching mountainous terrain. Jagged rocks began to appear everywhere; running in this environment felt quite like parkour.
Although her speed had dropped, that wasn't the point. The point was that she was currently running faster than Budo. Perhaps it was the burden of the armor, or maybe he simply wasn't a speed-type combatant. If she maintained this speed difference, even if she couldn't escape, she could stall until dawn.
Just as Jean was thinking this, the continuous bombardment suddenly stopped. Looking back, she saw Budo in a starting position, his leg muscles suddenly bulging, followed by an incredible burst of speed as he charged forward.
In front of him, trees, jagged rocks, roots, and mounds were all smashed aside as he charged straight at Jean with unstoppable momentum.
"What the hell is this thing?!"
Seeing this, Jean couldn't afford to be slack. She infused the wind element into her feet and performed a burst jump onto a large tree branch. Using that branch as a springboard, she performed another burst jump to a branch further ahead.
Repeating this maneuver, at the cost of consuming elemental power and having aching legs, she achieved high-speed three-dimensional movement within the forest.
This ninja-like way of running was another result of Jean's application of elemental power. Generally speaking, anyone who mastered the wind element would certainly try to fly, but while she hadn't mastered flying, she had figured out this forest parkour similar to a ninja run.
She had originally intended to use this to deal with the demons in the village, but she vaguely remembered that Schop's Imperial Arms had a propulsion function. To be safe, she hadn't brought the battlefield into the forest.
However, this technique was now having a quite good effect; at least the distance between her and Budo wasn't closing.
Now it was a contest of whether the elemental power in her body or her physical form would give out first, or if the sun would come out and force Budo to retreat.
Unfortunately, the final result of this race was not decided by either of those two factors.
Because the forest disappeared.
As the air grew colder and colder, Jean finally reached the edge of the forest. Ahead lay mountainous terrain covered in jagged rocks and a snow-capped mountain whose peak could not be seen at a glance.
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